a) Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a sound reproduction arrangement having at least one sound transducer and a holding means carrying the at least one sound transducer, for support on the body of a user.
b) Description of the Related Art
Such an arrangement has been known hitherto as a headset. The headset has two ear caps, in each of which is arranged at least one respective sound transducer. The headset is supported on the body of the user by virtue of it being fitted on to the head so that a respective ear cap bears with its open side directly on an ear of the user or encloses same, and thus the sound transducer or transducers disposed in the ear cap output the acoustic signals directly to the ear (the known headset would therefore in itself be more correctly identified as a `earphone`). It is characteristic of a headset that the left ear receives only the left audio signal and the right ear receives only the right audio signal of the headset.
It is precisely in regard to the reproduction of multi-channel audio recordings by means of multi-channel headsets, in particular the reproduction of multi-channel Dolby-Surround coded music and film sound recordings, with a corresponding Dolby-Surround headset, that it has been found disadvantageous that precise spatial association of the multi-channel sound reproduction effect is unfortunately possible only with difficulty or is not possible at all, because of the above-described direct input of sound into the ears.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,707 discloses a sound reproduction arrangement in which the sound reproduction arrangement comprises a pillow which substantially surrounds the head of the user and into which a plurality of sound transducers are fitted. The pillow moves with the head, upon movement thereof.
German Patent DE-A-32 14 080 also discloses an arrangement for the reproduction of stereophonic, in particular head-related signals, in which two sound transducers are carried by a holder, and the holder is of such a configuration, for being supported on the body of the user, that it can be supported on the shoulder of the user, in which case the two sound transducers can be placed at a spacing relative to the head of the user so that the head of the user remains freely movable with respect to the holder and thus with respect to the sound transducers. The first of the two sound transducers is associated with the left ear of the user and the second sound transducer is associated with the right ear, and the two sound transducers lie laterally at the head of the user.
Admittedly, it is possible to achieve multi-channel sound reproduction with a better degree of spatial association by means of a suitable number of loudspeakers which are set up in a discretely distributed arrangement in a room; however such loudspeakers require a relatively high level of installation expenditure and take up a relatively high level of space, while the acoustics of the room have a considerable influence on the quality of sound reproduction, high sound volumes disturb the environment and not least high-quality systems are particularly expensive.